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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24455470">Steady</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaMaraya/pseuds/AnnaMaraya'>AnnaMaraya</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Space Force</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dr. Mallory bothers General Naird for many reasons, Dr. Mallory gets it even if he doesn't say it, General Naird is stressed, M/M, the show isn't a masterpiece but I love this odd couple</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:40:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>827</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24455470</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaMaraya/pseuds/AnnaMaraya</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, Mark goes into work early. Just to have a moment alone.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>General Mark R. Naird/Dr. Adrian Mallory</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>109</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Steady</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was something about watching the sun rise from his office chair that settled Mark. </p>
<p>Sometimes, when things felt most like they were falling apart around him, his body would wrench him into alertness the earliest hours of the morning. He knew not to fight it when this happened. He just got up, resigned, and numbly donned his uniform, made his thermos of coffee especially strong. He drove directly onto base, the stars still sharp above him in the pitch black sky. There was no goal except to be in his office, sit at his desk, lean back in his chair. He never turned the light on, just let the long windows of his north wall bring in shadowy illumination. During that first hour right before sunrise, the slow saturation of weak light, it felt easier to breathe. </p>
<p>He let his mind uncurl. He thought about seeing his daughter on his way out of the house, messily asleep in her room. Curled up around the pillow, at ease, with her hair tangled around her. He thought about his last conversation with his wife, and how clamy his hand had felt pressed against the glass. But in the dark pre-dawn office, the ache of worry and love for both of them that usually squeezed his chest was lessened. Things just felt farther away.</p>
<p>The crack in his heavy office door showed that beyond them, his lobby was blessedly empty and dark. During the day it was a barricade of sorts, behind which collected a ceaseless build up of people and problems, like dust debris in an air-filter. Accumulating, all day, swirling outside his door and rushing in each time he opened it. Maybe that was why the air felt almost cleaner now. </p>
<p>He pulled in a deep breath and let it out, leaning back, stretching his feet across the desk. He could really take another six hours of just....sitting in this hour. </p>
<p>The echoed opening of a door two floors below him broke the silence. Mark jerked into alertness, looking around. </p>
<p>Light filled his lobby, and Dr. Mallory appeared at the part in his double door. Mallory stopped, pushing one door further open. </p>
<p>"General Naird. I had a suspicion that I might find you here. Sitting alone in the dark now, are we?" </p>
<p>The bright office light made him feel exposed, and the dark of his office look morose and dingy instead of gently dim. Mark shrugged, turning back to his window. He knew how he must look, sitting alone in the dark.  </p>
<p>"Well, Dr. Mallory. As you might remember, I am actually responsible for this base. In charge. At the helm. So you know, I am here," he motioned at the empty office, "Monitoring." </p>
<p>"Ah, I see." Mallory nodded gravely and stepped inside, levering the heavy door shut behind him. </p>
<p>"How did you even know I was here?" Mark said, already hating the measured understanding in Mallory's tone. "And what are you doing on my base at ass'o'clock in the morning? More mice need their pulse checked, or what?" </p>
<p>"No, actually. I was fortunate to have progressed beyond personal involvement in mouse physicals by the second year of my PhD. I'm here to catch up on my reading. I find with all the excitement our tasks recently, I've fallen at least two volumes behind on Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society." </p>
<p>Mark grunted. "Nerd." </p>
<p>"That, and...I'm here for the quiet." </p>
<p>Mallory moved around Mark's desk to stand in front of the window. With the double doors shut and only a sliver of light peaking through at the bottom, the office was mostly dark again. The sky opened back up, more watery now, dusk creeping over the mountains. </p>
<p>"Whatever you need for your scientific mumbo jumbo, I suppose. Personally, I don't subscribe to any of that mediation bullshit." Mark dropped his feet onto the floor and shuffled some papers on his desk, gathering them.</p>
<p>Mallory turned. He was silhouetted against window, meeting Mark's gaze. </p>
<p>"Of course, General. I can see you're busily engaged." </p>
<p>"Yes, always busy, working. Engaging." Mark looked away, drew some more papers into his stack, noticed they were mainly take out menus for local chains, and hurriedly stuffed those to the bottom of the pile. </p>
<p>"Naturally. But you wouldn't mind then, if I stayed a while. I'll be quiet." </p>
<p>"Stayed?" </p>
<p>"Yes," Mallory sank down onto his couch, leaning back. "Stayed, here. For a while." </p>
<p>Mark swallowed. Looked away. He couldn't do this. It was too early. </p>
<p>"Fine, yeah. Fine. Do what you want." </p>
<p>Mallory nodded. He reached out and pulled a magazine off the coffee table. Behind him the colors in the mountains warmed, lightened. </p>
<p>"Excellent, People Magazine. The critical updates on culture and society I've been missing."</p>
<p>"Adrian, I swear to sweet Jesus," </p>
<p>"Alright! Steady on, General." He shuffled open People Magazine, gave Mark a prim look, and started to slowly flip its pages. </p>
<p>They sat together, quiet, well into the morning.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm only halfway through this show but I'm loving the characters, if not necessarily the narrative. I'm not saying this is a masterpiece of cinema or anything, but General Mark Naird seems like a sweet guy at character and I'm looking forward to some more fic about him hopefully. </p>
<p>Please come talk to me about your Space Force thoughts on Tumblr, here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/theclearestglass</p>
<p>Or on twitter, here: https://twitter.com/ana_maraya</p></blockquote></div></div>
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